I have been searching for many years now for my baby girl. She was born March 25, 1975 in Lawrenceburg, IN at Dearborn County Hospital. She was placed with the LDS (Latter Day Saints, aka Mormon) Social Services for adoption. I lived in Cincinnati, OH at the time with my grandmother after having been sent away from home in Phoenix, AZ. Dearborn County was the closest facility to my grandmother's country home. The little bit of info I have indicates the her adoption was finalized in Virginia, of course, with an LDS family who had other children. I was "not to worry," because they had college educations and were upstanding members of the church.

As a mom, even though she has not been with me physically, I have worried about whether her emotional needs were being met, let alone being cared for otherwise. I have worried about how she felt about being adopted and the person who put her there. Every time I saw or heard about a young woman being abused or one who had died, I asked, "Was she mine?"

When the WTC was attacked and the planes crashed in Washington DC and Pennsylvania, could she have been there? Don't get me wrong, I am not neurotic. In fact, when someone wonderful is recognized or spotlighted, I think the same thing - "could she be mine?" Perhaps I am writing this to get through to adoptees that birth mothers do care about their children. We all have that special place in our hearts solely for them. It's a place no other person, place or thing can fill. Birth mothers (a majority of us) want good things and happy lives for our children; that's why we did what we did. You are always, always loved and worried about. My daughter turned 28 this year, and I pray she has had a happy life with only enough trials and tribulations to make her appreciate how wonderful life can be. I pray that someday I will come to know what a wonderful woman she has become.

© 2003